Alwaght- Turkish security forces arrested a large number of officials in the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) over charges of links with recent terrorist attacks in the country.
An unprecedented number of 118 politicians and officials of the party were arrested during a nationwide operation of the country’s counter-terrorism forces.
The arrests of officials from the HDP, the second-largest opposition party in the Turkish parliament, came after an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for twin bombings outside an Istanbul soccer stadium that left 38 people dead and 155 others wounded on Sunday.
Twenty HDP officials were arrested in Istanbul, including the party’s provincial head, and 18 were apprehended in the capital Ankara.
Another 25 HDP authorities were also nabbed in the heavily-Kurdish-populated southern city of Adana when about 500 police officers, backed by armored vehicles and a helicopter, launched a vast operation.
Over 50 people connected to HDP were also detained in the southern city of Mersin, and five in the northwestern province of Manisa.
The main leaders of HDP have already been jailed pending trial over alleged ties to the PKK militants.
Turkey accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the armed militant group.
